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Food, family and memories are as intertwined in the South as if woven on the same thread. At any function we attend, from a party to a wedding to a funeral, we are as likely to talk as much about the food that was there, as we are about why we are gathered. ~Mary Foreman

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Monday, March 28, 2011

A decadent and well loved dessert made with a shortbread pecan crust and layers of cream cheese, pudding and whipped cream.

Chocolate Sin

This dessert recipe goes far, far back in my memory, though I was a bit older before I first heard it called "Better Than Sex." I distinctly remember a girlfriend calling it that and with a puzzled look on my face being told, "darlin', this is sooooo good that it is better than sex, that's why," and that was that. It sure has made multiple appearances in my life, that's for sure.

Now, I do also realize that there a loads of equally sinful and delicious desserts of no resemblance to this one, that are also called "Better Than Sex," depending on where you're from really. Frankly even though they are all different, that's perfectly fine with me. In fact, you can read about several different varieties of "Better Than Sex" desserts right in our discussion on the Facebook page recently. No matter the dessert, I figure if it earned a name like that, it's gotta be drool worthy, no matter the ingredients.

This particular one, made with a shortbread crust and layered with a cream cheese, powdered sugar and whipped cream layer, followed by a chocolate pudding layer, and topped with a final layer of whipped cream, is known itself by multiple names. Chocolate Sin, Sex in a Pan, Better Than Sex, Better Than Robert Redford, Almost a Sin, Girdle Buster, Chocolate Dessert, Chocolate Pudding Dessert, Chocolate Delight, Chocolate Dream and even Mississippi Mud are a few names I've heard.

If you've never made this before I do hope you try it. It really is delicious and super easy to make.

First you'll make a basic shortbread type of crust by combining butter with flour and nuts, and spreading that into a 9 x 13 inch glass baking dish, and baking it. Do this far enough in advance so that you have plenty of time to cool the crust completely. Remember, just like a cookie, this crust will not look set when you remove it from your oven. It will not look like it's done, but don't be tempted to keep baking it. It will continue baking from the residual heat of the pan and if you overcook it, the crust will harden and be difficult to cut through as a finished dessert. It should only be very lightly browned and should look like this - after it has cooled and set.

The first layer is made of softened cream cheese and powdered sugar whipped together and then you'll add a cup of homemade whipped topping or Cool Whip to that. I could eat a whole bowl of just this stuff!

Spread that over the cooled crust - an offset spatula is handy for this kind of thing.

Whip together two small packages of chocolate pudding with 3 cups of milk until slightly thickened and spread that over the cream cheese layer.

Over the chocolate pudding layer, you'll add a layer of plain whipped topping.

Cover and refrigerate for several hours or overnight - 24 hours is even better. I wait to garnish just before serving by grating a little bit of chocolate over the top using a fine grater, and then sprinkling just a bit of chopped pecan on top. Lawdy y'all, this is sooooo good. Dig in!

Check out my other layered desserts on Pinterest!

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Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a bowl, mix together the flour, pecans and butter until mixture resembles cookie dough. Spread into the bottom of a 9 x 13 inch glass Pyrex baking dish. Bake at 350 degrees F for about 20 minutes or until lightly browned. The crust will appear underdone but will continue cooking in the pan, and will firm up as it cools, so don't be tempted to keep cooking it. Cool completely, about an hour.

Mix together the cream cheese and powdered sugar until well blended. Add 1 cup of the Cool Whip and mix together. Spread this layer over the cooled crust.

Mix together the two boxes of pudding with the 3 cups of milk until slightly thickened, about 3 minutes. Carefully spread over the cream cheese layer.

Spread the remaining cup of whipped topping on top. Cover and refrigerate - best if refrigerated 24 hours. Before serving, grate chocolate over the top and sprinkle with additional chopped nuts. Cut into squares.

Variations: May be made with a variety of crusts by substituting crushed cookies, graham crackers or vanilla wafers for the flour in the crust. Use about 1-1/2 cups of crushed cookies and because cookies already have some fat in them, start with a few tablespoons of melted butter, using only enough to bind the cookies together. May also use a variety of pudding flavors (vanilla, chocolate, butterscotch, lemon, etc.), or use any two different, but compatible flavors of pudding, either one layered on the other or blended together. Okay to substitute margarine, sugar free and lower fat products, if desired. May also add a layer of sliced fruit, for example, use banana pudding with sliced bananas or vanilla with sliced strawberries.

The "Secret" State Pie of Arkansas aka Possum Pie: Prepare crust as above, except use a 9-inch pie plate. Layer cream cheese layer as above, except for chocolate layer, beat 1 cup of sour cream with the pudding mix and milk in a separate bowl, cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes to set, then spoon over cream cheese layer. Cover and refrigerate, finish as above.

Oreo Delight: Combine 1-1/2 cups of Oreo cookie crumbs with 2 to 5 tablespoons of unsalted butter, melted, until crumbs bind together. Press into the bottom of the pan and bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for about 8 minutes. Set aside to cool completely, then proceed with remaining recipe. Crush additional Oreos to garnish top.

Lemon Lush: Prepare crust and first layer as above, except include the juice of one lemon. For second layer, substitute two packages of instant lemon pudding. Top with whipped topping. Garnish with a lemon twist.

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Exactly the way I make it. Only I call it chocolate delight. I first found the recipe in a church cookbook. After I made it the first time my teen-age son put 5-stars beside it. #1 requested dessert around here. I've had it with vanilla pudding but chocolate is definetly the best.

Mary, I make this too, only my recipe is called Four Layer Pudding Dessert....Your name is way more exciting! :)It's delicious, no matter what ya call it. My original recipe makes it with pistachio pudding, and it's good too.

How funny! I always called this Millionaire Pie, but my husband's family calls it Texas Pie. It's one of my favorite desserts that his grandma makes.

To me, Better Than Sex Cake is a German chocolate cake with holes punched in it while it's warm, then drizzled with caramel topping and a can of sweetened condensed milk and topped with Cool Whip and sprinkled with shaved chocolate.

So funny how these desserts adopt different names along the way, and I know that there are a multitude of desserts with the "better than sex" name. One thing I know for sure is that if it has that name it's a very good indication that it's a pretty darned good dessert!!

Lisa, the dessert that you describe is known to me as "Holy Cow Cake" or "Candy Bar Cake" with the addition of chopped up candy bars on top instead of the plain shaved chocolate. Snickers, Butterfinger, Kit Kat, Milky Way, Heath bars, brickle or Reeses cups are all good & you can use devil's food or German chocolate cake mix as your base cake. It's a great cake for just about any occasion!

My family has always known it as 4 layer delight, but I have heard it called "fat man's delight" (not funny!) But, if you like lemon, replace the chocolate with cooked lemon merangue pie filling, and it will knock your socks off!!

This is our recipe too!!! I love this dessert because we have gone gluten free and this is so easy to revise just use gluten free all purpose flour mix. One time I was out of flour before we went gluten free and used vanilla sandwich cookies crushed up. My nephew thought he had died and gone to heaven!

My mother has made this for as long as I can remember but she always called it "Four Layer Delight" and sometimes she would use Butter Pecan pudding instead of Chocolate. Love it! Love your recipes, too! Thanks!

I've heard this called Better Than Sex , but my mom calls it Chocolate Delight because "no food should be named after sex".. LOL she's old school. No matter what it's called, this dish is absolutely yummy. A chocolate lovers dream! We always have it around Thanksgiving & Christmas. Which is weird cuz I guess you can have it anytime! =)

Hey Melissa! I know what you mean - I'm pretty my mama would probably not call this sex anything! y'all probably have it around the holidays cuz it's so rich, but yeah, this time of year it's great with all the church suppers, potlucks & family gatherings going on. All I know is this - I LOVE it!!

We call it "Hobo Pie" and this is the one dessert my family will fight over. It is a "must-have" at all the big holidays and is so much in demand that we now make two - one to put out for the crowd, and one hidden away in the fridge for after everyone's gone!

Our family is like Lynda's...that's why we've always referred to it as "Green Stuff" :D My MIL religiously makes it with chocolate pudding, but my favorite (and my husbands, hee) is still to make it with pistachio pudding :)

I was first introduced to this desert in 1976 at a potluck at work, BUT it was made with butterscotch pudding - it is to die for. I have been served the chocolate variety, and it is very good, but my family always prefers the butterscotch.

I don't recall seeing the butterscotch back then around here - only the chocolate - but the butterscotch is of course incredible. I lean toward the chocolate myself since that is the first one for me, but then I'm a pretty big fan of all the layered desserts overall to honest so I love them all!

OMG!I have been looking for this recipe since I went to my dear friend Stephanie's Father's funeral! This was a Southern who's who of Church Ladies Lunchon Affair, that was put on in rememberance of a very heroic firefighter(Steven Young, who in his career had saved countless lives the community). As you can imagine the food was amazing and plentyfull. The was one dish in particular though that stood so highly above ALL others was this reciepe with Butterscotch Pudding! I thought I had died and gone to some Keebler Confections heaven! I closed my eyes when I ate it and apparently made several loud moaning and grunting sounds. So vocal was I that the sister of the Gal who had made this delight came over to me and said "You must be eating my sister's pie!" The laughs and the hooting and a hollering filled the room and my face with a red flush I don't think will ever be matched again! I ate almost half of the 13x9 dish of this "devil's delight"(that's what I have been refering to it as)! I couldn't help myself! It was toe curling good and I was too ashamed to ask for the reciepe after my "performance" so Praise Jesus I found it here! Thanks soo much y'all! P.S. I can't wait to try all these other variations with flavors! Love the site!

Oh you lil' darlin' you! Thanks for replying to my comment.(so sorry I posted 2 versions of the same story, my computer is possesed and it wiped out my first draft of my comment so I re-typed it not knowing the original had indeed been sent!) What a sweetheart you are and I have to say this site is just soo great. Living in an era where fast-food and computers reign it's nice to get back to the basics of sharing home cooked meals with friends and family. Having big family suppers growing up at my Grandmother's home are at the heart of some of my most treasured memories. Sadly most of my family has passed, in fact I only have one living relitive remaining(my sister Alyssa, 15 yrs. my junior)But I still love to cook and look forward to trying many of the recipe's on this site for friends and loved ones. Deepest Thanks, Ed.

Hello there you Southern Sweetie- Well I made my "Better than sex" 4 layer masterpiece in Butterscotch as I had it at the funeral I mentioned above(my cheeks are still rosie from shame of it all-but this dessert is too good for me to care! lol)and then I made a 2nd one the week after with Chocolate pudding just to see how that one was because I read how much that one made an impression on folks-you included! Both were heavenly but I have to tell you for me it's the Butterscotch all the way home to the lounge chair! There's a decadance along with a lightness to the cake when it's made with the Butterscotch pudding. The chocolate flavor just dosen't transend for me. And I am an chocoholic of the 10th degree so I'm rather puzzled as to why I like the Butterscotch more? It may have to do with the fact that I don't eat many if anything much in that flavor normally so It does have a uniqueness that makes it stand out for me and adds to it's all around special deliciousness! Either way I love it and thanks again for featuring the recipe on the site ;)...Ed

I have had this dish since i was a little girl ive only known it as sex in a dish i plan on making this for dessert for my girls as they grow up it is amazing with the rich flavor but its not so over powering. and i hate wipped cream but for some reason i love it in this recipe i think of this as an amazing ne time dessert i used to eat it ne time of the day

I have baked as a side business for years, but when it all comes down to it, I'd rather have this than anything - everyone knows when my birthday rolls around, it's chocolate delight (what we call it) or bust! :)

I have baked as a side business for years, but when it all comes down to it, I'd rather have this than anything - everyone knows when my birthday rolls around, it's chocolate delight (what we call it) or bust! :)

I have baked as a side business for years, but when it all comes down to it, I'd rather have this than anything - everyone knows when my birthday rolls around, it's chocolate delight (what we call it) or bust! :)

LOL, yeah, my son turned 30 last year & I said the same thing!! My best friend since high school who by the way, said she was NEVER going to get married and certainly NEVER going to have any children, ended up both married & when she found out she was pregnant, yep. Twins!! Proof positive that God absolutely has a sense of humor. They are her pride & joy.

Isn't this just such a sinful & wonderful dessert? I am not safe around it!!

This is one of our favorites ~ only we call it three layer surprise (which is odd since it's got four layers!) My husband's aunt, from North Dakota, calls it Better Then Robert Redford dessert, which cracks me up. Glad to find this online so I can add it my southern dessert pinterest board.

Mary i too as some of the comments have read and known this dessert to be called Four Layer Delight a little more clean to take to a church function when the recipe is asked for. But let me tell you what i tried. I made the chocolate pudding and i made vanilla pudding and put coconut in it and put that on top of the chocolate layer and then put the cool whip on top and sprinkled toasted coconut and shaved chocolate and i thought my husband was going to make himself sick. Awesomeness total awesomeness

I have made this for years and my family calls it chocolate goodie... I have also made it this with coconuts cream pie pudding and toped with toasted coconut and if u like coconut it is to die for! I love it both ways.

No, the pan size is correct, but it does make only a thin bottom layer - it's just meant to provide a base to hold the dessert together, though I'm sure you could make it thicker though if you prefer more of a cookie dough on the bottom!

So happy to have found this! Yesterday a friend of mine was talking about a banana pudding dessert she made for Thanksgiving . While having dessert her Grandma renamed the dessert to Better Than Sex Banana Pudding dessert and the whole family was cracking up. I laughed too and it reminded me that my Grandma used to make an incredible chocolate pudding dessert that she alternately called either Better Than Sex Dessert and/or Better Than Robert Redford Dessert. It was the best!! A quick goggle search today landed me here. This sounds pretty close to what my grandma made although I think she made hers with a graham cracker crust. I can't wait to make it! Gotta love Grandma's and their creatively named "Better Than Sex" desserts. Ha!!

There is some variation among different families on how it's made - two puddings mixed, two pudding layers of different flavor, etc. so lots of ways to change it up. It's all good though & I hope you enjoyed it!!

Is so hard to cut, the first time i prepared this everyone was scraping the pudding mixture off not realizing it had a cookie crust. How do i prevent this the next time i fix it. The cookie crust is so hard to cut. Help please.

Shouldn't be that hard!! Remember, cooking times are always estimates in recipes since everybody's ovens cook differently, and if the crust is that hard, it's overcooked. Once it's cooled it should only be slightly crisp, like a cookie. When you layer it with the toppings, it really needs that 24 refrigeration to - that will also soften it further. If you find that you have to remove things from your oven a little earlier or a little longer than a recipe says, then the thermostat is likely off & your oven temp isn't correct. Check and remove the crust portion 5 to 7 minutes earlier the next time, but certainly don't go any longer! Remember, like cookies, it won't look quite "set" until it rests out of the oven and cools. You only want it to be lightly browned when you remove it, so sounds like it needed to come out of your oven just a bit sooner. Hope that helps!

I'm sure you could vary this in many ways. The flour crust is somewhat like a shortbread cookie crust, but you could use all kinds of crusts with this method as well as varying the filling to your liking!

Dearest Madame Deep South Dish, I can see from the comments that many, many people have enjoyed this dessert but I think its greatest fan is my husband. He loves nothing in the world better than this dessert, sometimes I think even including myself! Best wishes to you and yours this holiday season, and thank you for your enormous (if unknowing) contribution to my happy marriage!

This was great! We made it last night and are literally eating it now. I couldn't wait to finish before I told you how good this is. Easy to make. I will make it again, for sure! Once again for the billionth time, thank you for another wonderful recipe.

I have not made this dessert with a pretzel crust but I'm sure it would be good! For a pretzel crust I use 1-1/4 cup of crushed pretzels with 1/4 cup granulated sugar and 6 to 8 tablespoons of unsalted butter, melted. Pulverize the pretzels to a fairly fine crumb. To that add the sugar and stir well to combine. Add the melted butter and mix until crumbs are well coated, press into the bottom of the 9 x 13-inch pan. Bake at 350 degrees F for 10 minutes, or until lightly toasted. Set aside to cool completely. I'm not sure how a layer of caramel would work with this dessert, but drizzling it on top would be wonderful I bet!!

Oh, yes! Absolutely and in fact, I often do that myself!! I share my recipes in their original state and leave the variations up to readers, but I sometimes use lower fat and lower sugar products too when making them. I do have a note about that in the recipe variations.

My dad did most of the cooking in my family, and he was a big health food guy (still is), so I grew up eating the healthy substitution versions of classic dishes. I can vouch for the flavor sticking around! One thing I learned after trying to take it even further is that the jump from low-fat to no-fat is a mistake. It barely saves any fat or calories, but the food suddenly tastes artificial. I accept that 1% is better than skim, and it also means that my brain and tongue are satisfied with less-the skim versions never seem to flip the switch to satiated. My dad would always make a pan of chocolate and butterscotch, and the butterscotch disappeared first. My mom loves the chocolate best, though, so we would never make just one.

I ended up here because I bought a grocery bakery cake on sale on a whim, but it was rather bland, despite being gorgeous, and I was struck by the notion of using sliced cake as the bottom layer in a version of this dessert. I might have to make a few tweaks to get everything perfect, but I am willing to make the sacrifice of tasting and tweaking. :)

I have never made this with real whipped cream, but I don't have any cool whip in the house, just lots of whipping cream. Any tips for that change?

I'm not a big fan of fat free anything either though I know a lot of folks are - what's in there making up for the lack of fat? And what IS fat free half and half anyway lol??

I've used whipped cream and Cool Whip with success. Typically you would need some sort of stabilizer for it to hold up - say like as a cake icing, so maybe the cream cheese and powdered sugar help with that here for the inner layer to avoid separation.

I'm sorry, I don't understand the question about powdery. If you scroll up you'll see a photo of the crust baked. That's what it should look like so long as there were no substitutes made - for instance some kind of margarine or butter substitute instead of real butter.

I'm not exactly sure if involving sex to it's ingredients or flavor has an association with this desert,(?) or if it's necessary..But, no matter how we chose to define this...it's still the original Jello Desert recipe. I've been making this as one of my favorite deserts for years as a Jello subscriber. I simply label it as Jello's Delicious Desert. :)

Hi Diane and welcome! "Better Than Sex" is just one of the many names this dessert has earned over the years, as I mention in the post above where I also mention a few of those names. I didn't learn of it as that name, although many folks only know it by that name, which is why I included it in my recipe name - so they could find it easily in a search!

I also didn't learn this dessert from being a Jello subscriber. I first started making this about 40 years ago from one of my first cookbooks as a young bride - my old "Bell's Best" community cookbook, put out by the Bell phone company in the 70s. It's a dessert that's shown up in many church & community cookbooks before and since then too though, so I'm sure that most folks who make it, didn't get it from being a Jello subscriber either. I would sure love to see a copy of the original recipe, especially if it pre-dates the 70s! Feel free to scan it in and email it to me if you have it and I'll be thrilled to include it in the post.

Absolutely should not be runny anjigirl! It should look just like the picture at the top. It's hard for me to know why it was runny of course, but did you use the large (3.9 ounce) sized pudding? If you used the small boxes, they are only 1 ounce, and that could be the reason. The only other thing is that if you overbeat it, they can thin it down and make it too runny. You should only beat it for 3 minutes mac and if you're using a mixer instead of doing it by hand, not on high. Whole milk also works the best for pudding because of the milk fat, though a lower fat like 1 or 2% will work. I wouldn't use skim for pudding, that could certainly make it watery. Sugar free also is a bit thinner than regular and I also find Jello brand puddings to be a bit more reliable than generics. Hope that helps!

Sorry but what do you mean by 'My way'? This is the same way pretty much everyone makes it. I was hoping for something new added. I don't mean this rude, but did I miss something? I sometimes add a layer of rasberry pie filling on top of the pudding which is even a little more decadent.

I don't really understand the objection about what I call my recipe on my blog, but here goes... it's really not that deep. I say "my way" because I make it my way.

Yes, you did miss something. If you had read the post prior to the recipe, I mention how the name "Better Than Sex" has become associated with many different desserts, some of which are nothing like this.

I learned Better Than Sex Dessert to be like this chocolate layered version and I still make it the old way that I learned it, so I call the recipe "my way," since other folks have a different way, and sometimes a very different dessert recipe that they call "Better Than Sex" dessert.

It's been around so long now- I've been making it myself for over 40 years - that even when people mean "Better Than Sex" is a dessert similar to this, everybody still has their own way of making it now - different layers, different puddings, different crusts - even like you with your own variation with the raspberry layer! So this is how I make "Better Than Sex" dessert, my way, or the original way I learned it! :)

Thanks, I just wondered. I am making 3 or 4 versions for a funeral and was looking for different ideas, which aren't that easy to find, switching the puddings etc.. By the way, this was my grandfather's favorite dessert.

Oh my goodness I have been looking for this recipe for sometime now. My grandmother used to make if for every Thanksgiving and Christmas, but she called it Chocolate Dream Casserole. I never got the recipe from her before she died and I just kind of had an idea of how it was made, but I was never sure about the crust. Thank you for posting this! Now I can continue the tradition of this dish at our Thanksgivings and Christmases for my children!

This is awesome. My G-rated mother calls this "Better than Just About Anything." My sister calls it Chocolate Delight, and I call it "that chocolate pudding dessert thing with the crust." It's a crowd pleaser for sure, by any name!

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